


Charm Person

by comicsansserif



Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Dungeons & Dragons, F/F, Post-Canon, bit of a slow burn on our hands gang, regina george is a true renaissance woman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-02 19:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16311386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicsansserif/pseuds/comicsansserif
Summary: Regina George is not a nerd.So why she's sitting at a table with Cady, Janis, Damian, Aaron, several notebooks and a shit ton of dice is beyond her.





	1. Chapter 1

_“Princess Gwenore is gonna be eaten if you don’t do anything Janis!”_

 

_The large and unwieldy doll, designed more for fashion and less for action, was clenched tightly in the tiny hand of the little blonde fourth grader. She glared intensely at her best friend before her, as if her gaze alone could stress the importance of her decision. Janis could only try to swipe stray hairs out of her face with a trembling hand in this life or death situation. She clutched the beautiful amulet of Zovior, a creation of tin foil and string that had been colored with a yellow highlighter, and bit at her bottom lip in thought._

 

_“But if I turn back time like the wizard told me, then the Princess will forget who I am! I really can’t do anything else?” Janis pleaded. Regina glanced down at the doll, calculating whether or not she should listen to the cries of her best friend._

 

_Regina gave a heavy, dramatic sigh before responding with her final answer._

 

\---------

 

“No.”

 

Regina’s arms were crossed in defiance, a barrier between her and Janis, who had cornered her.

 

“It’s just gonna be for one night. Come on.”

 

“The fact that you would even _consider_ me for this is, frankly, shocking-”

 

“Yeah, okay, I hate to say it but you were like, the best at writing st-”

 

“And mortifying.”

 

It was the middle of their senior year. The former Plastics had, for the most part, been fully integrated into the middle of Cady’s vortex of friends (Damian and Janis being at the center, Aaron just a bit further out, and the Mathletes somewhere at the edges). However, in the way of true, everlasting friendship was the Janis and Regina factor. There was an unsaid rule that one must never leave those two in a room by themselves. Two or more buffers were needed, and just one other person near them was allowed in only the most dire of situations.

 

Janis and Regina had only ever been left alone once, for a much needed night of apologies. Though both had agreed to work towards improving their relationship in the future, and had apologized (extensively, on Regina’s part, though she may have been more than a little tipsy) for past misdeeds, the amount of wounds reopened and awkward tension generated had led to the all important rule.

 

And here Janis was, violating that rule.

 

To ask Regina George to play Dungeons and Dragons.

 

 _The_ Regina George.

 

Regina switched between glaring at Janis with a look that seemed to be trying its hardest to shove the shorter girl into a locker, and darting her eyes around to make sure no one heard the embarrassing conversation. Janis sighed, glanced at the linoleum then back up at Regina to try again.

 

“I know you’re super weird with talking about it...for some reason I can’t even begin to fathom, but you’re...a really creative person. And a pretty...awesome writer…” Janis’s words faded into an incoherent mumble. She winced as she attempted to appeal to Regina’s ego, hoping her gaze wouldn’t see through the flattery.

 

Though it was blatant coaxing, there was some truth to Janis’s praise. When they were still best friends, Regina _did_ love writing. A part of Janis hoped that maybe she could ignite that passion that laid dormant behind countless walls and draw out this side of R-

 

“No.” Regina stated again, though now softer. She shifted uncomfortably at the sudden mention of her past interests. Janis could tell she had struck a chord.

 

“...It would make Cady like...super happy. She’s _dying_ to try the game out. You could just try humoring her?” Janis said with a small smile. Cady- the final nail in the coffin. Regina had one weakness in her stainless steel walls, and it was Cady. Regina pinched the bridge of her nose, demonstrating her exasperation with a combination heavy sigh and groan, and finally relented with a simple,

 

“Fine.”

 

“Great! I have the campaign book and everything. All you gotta do is read through the rules and the campaign and then run everything how they tell you to when we meet up for the session. You have a week to learn everything, by the way.” Janis smiled innocently.

 

“Do _I_ really have to be the one to be the…’dungeon master’ or whatever the hell.”

 

“Yes.”

 

And that was how Regina George found herself flipping through a 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons adventure. And she definitely wasn’t into it. At all. And she certainly wasn’t excited to put everyone through hell. Nor was she excited to craft a compelling story out of the bones of the pre written adventure. Which is why she absolutely wasn’t jotting down pages upon pages of notes in a notebook. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do.

 

She passed out late that night with a pen in her hand and her laptop open to twenty different tabs explaining the rules of the game.

 

\---------

 

Janis twirled a pencil around her fingers absentmindedly as she flipped through her years old sketchbook containing all the slightly smudged drawings of her character.

 

No, Regina definitely didn’t have to be dungeon master for the session. In fact, she definitely _shouldn’t_ be dungeon master. After all, Regina had zero experience with the game, and possibly less than zero interest in playing the game. But Janis didn’t want to do it. The prewritten adventures were too boring for her and she didn’t have time to make something entirely new. Damian also probably could have done it but he seemed pretty excited to dust off his old bard character. Janis also knew that Kevin would be more than happy to do it, but she assumed he most likely wouldn’t leave Cady with a good first experience...and also she found him to be barely tolerable as a human. In any case, there was something satisfying about foisting such a nerdy responsibility onto Regina on a Friday night. If only to remind her that she no longer really has anything to do on Friday nights.

 

Janis knew that staying home alone on a Friday night would have been a truly depressing notion to Regina just a few months ago. Of course, that was before the student body all but dropped her as a viable party invite. And before her whole body hurt like, all the time. So if anything, Janis was showing mercy by giving Regina a fun homework assignment to do from the comfort of her own bed.

 

And there was a small (or maybe...not so small) part of Janis that craved the good ol’ days of creating stories with her best friend. And maybe this fun little homework assignment could trigger a similar craving in that former best friend.

 

Maybe.

 

\---------

 

Janis awoke that Saturday afternoon to several texts from Cady.

 

_ > regina is texting me, janis _

 

_ > its 3 am, janis _

 

_ > what did u do, JANIS _

 

Janis paused in her scrolling. She didn’t know why she was even remotely surprised that Regina decided to unleash her late night stream of consciousness onto Cady rather than her. It’s not like they texted at all since the melding of the friend groups. Although, it’s also not like Cady could have helped with anything that Regina may have been having problems with. Janis sighed and continued forth with reading Cady’s messages of desperation.

 

_ > its about the dragon game we were doing?? _

 

_ > I thought u said we werent gonna get regina involved _

 

_ > she just sent “;(hfkdlgh hgh” _

 

_ > do you think thats secret murder code? _

 

_ > oh...maybe she fell asleep with her phone on her face _

 

That was the last text received from Cady, presumably because she too passed out moments after Regina. Cady didn’t share with Janis what exactly Regina had been texting so late at night, but the fact that Regina was even thinking about the game in any capacity long after their conversation was intriguing.

 

As Janis closed out of the conversation, she noticed a notification for a voicemail that had been left.

 

From Regina.


	2. Chapter 2

Janis clicked play on the message again. And again. And a fifth time. 

 

_ “Heeeeyyy Janis,”  _ it started, each time. The words were soft and sweet, and incredibly slurred from the combination of exhaustion and nightly dose of pain medication. 

 

_ “You’re asleep...obv...but GUESS who’s not…? Me, dickweed. Fuck you.”  _ Though the short message certainly wasn’t boring, the part that beared repeating was how Regina chose to punctuate her dead of night anger. There was a long pause after “fuck you.” and then,

 

_ “...Thank you.” _

 

Not a sarcastic, blunt “Thanks.” for putting her in such an aggravating situation. There was sincerity behind her words that threw Janis for a loop. She could text her about it but it was likely that Regina didn’t even remember leaving a message, nor would she even want to be reminded of anything she deemed embarrassing. If confronted on it, it was likely Regina would put up another wall, erasing any previous progress in chipping away at the old walls. And then Cady would be pissed. 

 

Janis decided the best course of action would be to send a message to Damian.

 

_ > u up? _

 

The amount of time between when Damian saw Janis’s message and when he replied seemed impossible. As if he already had the message ready, knowing she would text him soon.

 

_ > little early for a hook up, don’t you think? _

 

Janis rolled her eyes at that. She loved Damian dearly, but she was in way too much emotional turmoil to deal with anything beyond genuine advice.

 

_ > h a h a. Can you come over or not, jackass _

 

Damian took a bit longer to respond on the next message.

 

_ > yeah, sure. Can cady join me? We were already hanging out bc we wake up at normal people hours. _

 

Janis bit her lip in thought. Maybe she could get Cady to reveal what Regina had texted her.

 

_ > Fine. _

 

———

 

Twenty minutes later, Damian arrived with Cady in tow.

 

“So, what was so urgent that you had to drag me and Cady away from frozen yogurt and thrift shopping?” Damian folded his arms in annoyance, though his face suggested actual concern.

 

“You went thrifting without me?” 

 

“You didn’t pick up when I called. Stop deflecting.” Damian shot back.

 

Janis groaned, and brought out her phone.

 

“Regina left me a voicemail at fuckin’ 3 am.” 

 

Cady’s eyebrows shot up. Damian opened his mouth to talk, but Cady interrupted him.

 

“Hey! That’s when she was texting me!” Cady looked at Janis expectantly, waiting for the confirmation that she could continue. Janis nodded in approval.

 

“She sent me like...a hundred texts complaining about you not picking up.” Cady brought out her phone, displayed the screen to Janis and Damian and scrolled back through the extremely long string of texts.

 

“There’s so many typos…” Cady said under her breath as she brought the phone back to herself.

 

“Ok, wait. Why was Regina trying to get a hold of you in the first place?” Damian finally asked after realizing he was missing a key piece of the puzzle.

 

“I uh...well...I may have...convinced her to be the...dungeon master for our game on Friday.” Janis held her breath, waiting for Damian’s response. She held her breath for a while, because Damian started and stopped his sentence several times before finding the right words.

 

“Janis...the light of my life, my star, my angel, my everything, in what universe was that a good idea? For  _ anyone _ ?” 

 

“We needed someone! And I thought maybe...she might... _ maybe _ ...be pretty good at it...maybe…” Janis’s voice shrunk with each word.

 

“Janis….” Damian sighed, “I thought you said...ugh...we  _ will _ talk about this later. But, what was the message she left?”

 

Cady, who had been distracted with trying to decipher some of Regina’s more cryptic texts perked up at the return to the mysterious voicemail. Janis held her phone out and pressed play on the message. She stared at the ground awkwardly as the message played. 

 

Damian and Cady were quiet for a few moments, before Cady finally broke the silence.

 

“...dickweed?”

 

“I’m definitely reading too much into the ‘thank you’, right? Right? I mean, she was totally out of it.” Janis said, shoving the phone back into the pocket of her jeans. Damian stepped forward and put a hand on Janis’s shoulder. Cady moved closer in case any other kind of emotional support was needed.

 

“Janis, what are you hoping it meant?”

 

“I don’t know...there’s still a part of me that’s mad at her. Like, a big part of me. I don’t know if that’s ever gonna go away. But...ever since she started hanging out with us, I’ve been remembering stuff from when we were kids. And there’s a new part of me that wants things to go back to the way things were…” Janis paused for a moment before continuing.

 

“...and...I’m wondering if maybe...she feels the same way?” 

 

Damian gripped Janis’s shoulders and stared her straight in the eye.

 

“Janis, I’m only saying this because I love you. But that’s a lot of faith to be putting into one high thank you.”

 

Cady lightly slapped Damian’s arm. Damian released his grip on Janis and rubbed his arm as if Cady decked it.

 

“Hey! Regina  _ has _ been making an effort to improve herself. I don’t think you have to obsess over it but...I don’t think it means nothing.” Cady said with a light smile. Janis groaned at the conflicting advice. 

 

“Ugh...can we just watch a movie or something? I’m giving up trying to process this right now.” Janis said. Damian and Cady nodded in agreement.

 

———

 

Regina opened her eyes to find her phone on her face, her laptop beside her, and crumpled balls of notebook paper littered across her bed. She groaned, removing the phone and slowly sitting up as delicately as possible. 

 

“Fuck…”

 

She glanced down at her phone’s lock screen. The phone was at 15% and she had a text from Cady.

 

_ > what? _

 

Regina plugged her phone in and rubbed at the corners of her still tired eyes. Feeling sore and exhausted, she gave herself a minute to take her morning meds before investigating what Cady was expressing confusion at. Regina hesitantly unlocked her phone to view the text. What she found was Cady’s small, confused reply to a bombardment of texts from Regina that Regina had only the haziest memory of sending, and she certainly didn’t remember sending so many.

 

She scrolled a mile before she found the root of the barrage.

 

_ > jan s notpi cking upp  _

_ > cnat Fucckknh deal wth thi _

_ > lesving a  voic _

_ > dony leav  _

 

“Fuck me...” 

 

She left Janis a  _ voicemail _ ? Who the hell leaves voicemails? Who the hell leaves their awkward not-quite-friend-yet-but-maybe-getting-there friend a  _ voicemail _ ? 

 

Regina tapped her nails nervously against the phone screen. She could send a text apologizing, although she didn’t know exactly what she would be apologizing for. She didn’t know the contents of the message. Or if there even was a message. Maybe she fell asleep before she actually sent anything? Regina didn’t know if she was good to go on talking to Janis outside of the context of the friend group, or school. She didn’t want to overstep just to ask whether or not she had overstepped. Maybe she could just wait and see if Janis texts first. Come Monday, if nothing is said, then she can confront her in person. 

 

Maybe she was overthinking this.

  
  


———

 

The weekend passed with no word from Janis. Which was fine. Regina was occupied with the gargantuan task Janis thrust upon her. She sorted through all the writing left on her bed and was able to salvage what she had previously deemed atrocious in her late night writing haze. 

 

Regina didn’t see Janis again until lunch, when she joined the table with Damian. 

“Whats up, nerds.” Janis greeted, setting her tray down. “You guys ready for Friday?” 

 

Cady glanced nervously at Janis, and then tried to gesture subtly toward Regina with a nod of her head, hoping to hint to Janis that Regina probably didn’t want to discuss her role in Friday night’s events in the crowded cafeteria.

 

“Does everyone have their character sheets ready?” Janis asked, not taking the hint. It was the only thing she had to talk about besides Regina’s message. And she really didn’t want to talk to Regina about the message. Besides, it’s not like Regina had anything to worry about as far as other people learning of her role in the whole event. Karen and Gretchen weren’t at the table that day (those two occasionally had lunch with other friends because they, unlike Cady’s friends, had other friends). Thankfully, Damian could sense Janis trying to avoid the subject.

 

“Janis, I’ve had my character ready for  _ years _ . And I helped Cady with hers on Sunday.” Cady nodded excitedly at that. The character rolling was grueling, but fascinating. Janis and Cady began to discuss the details of Cady’s character (a wood elf druid). Cady seemed to be getting more and more excited for Friday to come. 

 

“Well if you guys have your sheets ready you should probably send them to Regina. Cady you’ll have to send Aaron’s.” Janis said. “Hey Regina how’s the story...uh...” Janis, trailed off realizing that Regina hadn’t been paying attention to any of the conversation. She was lost in thought, staring at some corner of the cafeteria, and occasionally typing something into her phone. Cady reached over to wave her hand in front of Regina’s face.

 

“Wh- Cady what the hell are you doing?” Regina asked. 

 

“Sorry! It looked like you were kinda zoning out. Which I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do before? So I just- nevermind. But...uh, anyways, Janis was gonna ask you a question.” Cady responded, sheepishly.

 

“Oh...sorry. I guess.” Regina turned her head toward Janis, acknowledging her for the first time since lunch started. “What’s up?”

 

It was then that the conversation was cut off by the bell. 

 

“Ugh, it was nothing.” Janis sighed, getting up. “I’ll uh...I’ll talk to you later?”

 

“Yeah. Later.” 

 

———

 

Regina waited in the hall outside Janis’s art class. It was the last class of the day, but Janis was taking a while to leave. She must have been finishing something. Regina was just about ready to call off the confrontation and just go home when she heard Janis.

 

“Oh. Guess it’s later.”

 

Regina approached Janis, trying to mask her embarrassment with a confident aura that channeled the days of being an untouchable bitch. She knew that wouldn’t work with Janis but it still provided some form of safety for her.

 

“I need to talk to you.” Regina stated. When Janis just responded with a crossing of the arms and a slightly raised eyebrow, Regina’s confidence deflated a little.

 

“Did you...did I leave you a voicemail?” Regina asked, softly. Janis dropped eye contact with Regina, and ran a hand through her hair nervously. She bit her lip, trying to decide how much of the truth she should give. 

 

“Uh...yeah. But it was like, a second long. You just complained about being up super late and then hung up. I deleted it.” She hadn’t deleted it.

 

Regina didn’t remember leaving a message in the first place, so there was no point in asking her about why she said “thank you”, and there was no point in telling her about it either. The answer seemed to meet Regina’s approval, as she breathed a sigh of relief and let her defense drop somewhat.

 

“Good. I mean, not good that I tried calling you at 3 am. But good that it wasn’t anything like, super embarrassing. And good that you deleted it.” 

 

“Yeah.”

 

Regina turned to leave.

 

“Guess I’ll...see you tomorrow then.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Janis plugged in her headphones and listened to the voicemail one more time as she walked outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry if you thought this chapter would have any actual d&d in it. not yet. be patient.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> take a drink every time regina says fuck

It was 4:30 pm on a Friday and Regina was pacing around her home. Cady and her friends were supposed to arrive in thirty minutes. It was ultimately determined that the first session would be held at her house, as she was the only one who was able to guarantee an empty venue. Her parents were on some kind of marriage counseling spa weekend and her sister was at a sleepover, so they had the privacy to do whatever nerd shit they wanted. 

 

Regina must have rearranged the set up of the dining room table a million times. She googled “dungeons and dragons session” to figure out what the vibes for this were supposed to be, and she felt like she was rubbing grease directly onto her face. She was about to move the chairs around again when she heard a series of aggressive knocks at the door. As she opened the door, the perpetrator of the knocking turned out to be Damian, who took no time stepping through the threshold. 

 

“ _ Yes _ , I know I’m early. I figured you might need and/or want some help with last minute set up.” Damian said, responding before Regina even had time to say anything. “Aaron is picking up Cady and Janis on his way here...they’re probably actually going to be arriving before 5, too.” 

 

Regina nodded in agreement until her brain processed the first name Damian had listed.

 

“What the fuck do you mean  _ Aaron _ ?” 

 

“He’s our fourth?” Damian responded in a similarly questioning tone, raising an eyebrow at Regina’s confusion.

 

“He’s- you’re fucking kidding me. Why didn’t I know about this?” 

 

“You did. Or at least, we  _ thought _ you did. We definitely mentioned it in your vicinity.” 

 

Regina didn’t know how to process this new and distressing information. She wasn’t paying attention to their conversations, and now her ex would be at her door to witness number three on the list of top ten most embarrassing things she’s had to experience. Yes, number three. It’s earned its place. 

 

Regina closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and attempted to regain her composure.

 

“Well. Fine then. Aaron is our fourth.” Regina stated, calmly.

 

“You’re sure it’s fine? You were literally just like, two seconds away from a panic attack.” 

 

“I don’t ‘do’ panic attacks, Damian,” Regina said, flicking her hair back into an acceptable place. Damian seemed unconvinced, but thought it wise to say nothing.

 

They stood there in silence for approximately a decade before Damian spoke up again.

 

“So...I’m surprised to see you took all this,” Damian gestured to the set up of the table, “seriously.”

 

“I debated for a while on whether it would be more embarrassing if I was bad at all this or if I knew what I was doing.” Regina responded.

 

“If you hadn’t prepped at all and just winged it, it would have been  _ truly _ painful. But! Janis probably would never ask you to do this ever again.” 

 

“...Fuck, you’re right.” 

 

“But… _ don’t _ do that because I think there’s some like...intensely dramatic reason Janis chose you of all people. Like she’s hoping to awaken some locked away memories that will reveal you to be some kind of idiot savant.”

 

“Right...yeah…” Regina said, about to admit defeat. “Hey what the hell did you just c-“

 

The ringing of the doorbell cut her off as it echoed across the house. Damian went to open it, and there stood Cady, dual wielding large bags of chips, with Janis and Aaron standing behind her. Janis was wearing a pair of horns, but other than that the trio didn’t dress up for the occasion.

 

“Hey! We brought snacks!” Cady announced, stepping forward into the house. “Let’s do this.”

 

The trio followed Damian into the dining room where Regina was trying to resist her urge to fix her set up one more time. 

 

“Regina, the others have arrived,” Damian said, pointing out the obvious.

 

Janis seemed mesmerized by Regina’s set up...not that she could actually see any of it. The dungeon master’s screen protected her notes from the wayward glances of the players, but Janis seemed more intrigued by the very concept of Regina actually having a set up. She wasn’t really sure what to expect when she arrived.

 

“We should get these into bowls...” Aaron muttered, taking the chips from Cady. He glanced around everywhere but Regina location near the end of the table. 

 

Regina didn’t necessarily feel comfortable around Aaron either, but his hesitation was already starting to annoy the shit out of her. It was just chips, and he was standing there confused like an idiot. 

 

“Jesus Christ- here, follow me,” Regina said, as she grabbed Aaron’s arm and pulled. Aaron sighed, and allowed himself to be dragged towards the kitchen.

 

———

 

To be honest, Aaron barely wanted to hang out in a group with Regina, much less be alone with her in her kitchen. Why did he agree to come to Dungeons and Dragons? He can’t even look at Regina. And it’s not even really because of the ex girlfriend thing.

 

It’s because she sent him a message last Friday. 

 

It was awkward, to say the least.

 

Aaron winced as he watched Regina struggle to pull two large serving bowls from a top cupboard, straining her sensitive back.

 

“Do you...need help with that?”

 

“No,” she stated bluntly, despite nearly dropping the bowls onto the counter.

 

Aaron rocked back and forth on his heels and nervously eyed Regina as she poured the chips into the bowls.

 

“Regina...I, uh…”

 

Regina paused in her pouring, and set the bag down. “What?” She sighed.

 

“I….you…uh…”

 

“Aaron? I’m like...practicing this new thing where I try having more patience? And you’re really testing it right now.” Regina had now fully abandoned her chip pouring task, signified by the folding of her arms in annoyance.

 

“Right, yeah sorry,” Aaron stuttered, not meeting her eye. “Cady told me you had...uh...nevermind. Listen, it’s about last Friday. The message you sent me...it wasn’t supposed to be for me, right?”

 

Regina’s heart stopped. 

 

“What message?” 

 

“Regina, I really think you should talk to her-“

 

“What  _ fucking _ message, Aaron?” Regina, eyes practically flaring, seemed to have officially lost her patience. 

 

Aaron blanched, quickly fumbling to take his phone out of his pocket.

 

“You sent me a voicemail at like…” Aaron flipped through his phone to find the timestamp of the message, “3:35 am…?”

 

“Aaron. What did it say.” Regina spat through her teeth, fists clenching as if she wanted to deck him.

 

“Look I’ll- l’ll send it to you. I don’t really feel like I should...I don’t think you should listen to it now. Listen to it after everyone leaves. It’ll put you in the wrong headspace.” Aaron delicately took the chips from Regina, as if he was afraid of breaking her (or, more likely, her breaking him) and finished pouring the chips for her. “Come on. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.” He grabbed the bowls and returned to the rest of the group, who had chosen their seats at the table. 

 

———

 

After watching Aaron leave the kitchen, Regina took a few deep breaths to collect herself, not wanting to approach the group being as frustrated as she did in that moment. What sucked, though, was that she couldn’t stop thinking about the distressing news Aaron just dumped on her. Except the thing is, she wasn’t going to let some anxiety screw her over. She spent more hours on this damn story than she cared to admit, and she wasn’t going to let another fucking bullshit voicemail ruin that.

 

“Alright nerds,” Regina announced as she marched into the dining room, “let’s get this the fuck over with.”

 

———

 

_ The party continued their descent down the stone cavern. Darkness surrounded them, and they wouldn’t have been able to see their hands in front of their faces if naught for their bard casting dancing lights. The dim glow prevented them from colliding at every step, but still they couldn’t quite see what lurked in these shadows that tried their damndest to suffocate them. Eat at them. Every few feet it seemed like something else was trying to kill the group. Worse even was the stretches of the descent where there was nothing. Not even a growl. Just the sound of wind to send chills down their spines as they cower from illusionary threats lying in wait amongst the darkness. _

 

_ It was then that Zevari, their tiefling rogue, tripped on something abandoned on the ground. _

 

_ “Woah everyone, slow down a sec.” She called out.  _

 

_ The tiefling reached down to pick up the object and held it close to the light.  _

 

_ It was a radio. Dusty, rusted, and stained with a mysteriously viscous substance. It looked like it hadn’t been used in years, but there seemed to be a faint crackling from deep within its cobwebbed box. _

 

_ The bard, Grantaire, approached Zevari. _

 

_ “Ooo, what did you find?” _

 

_ There was a tremor that shook the whole cavern. Suddenly, the radio’s crackling increased in volume, and a voice was heard on the other end. _

 

_ “Hel...p...m...e…” _

 

_ “Wait...hold on…” the druid A’rcaena began to say. _

 

“...You can have radios in Dungeons and Dragons?” 

 

“Cady, what the hell? I was kind of in the middle of something?” Regina frowned, thoroughly taken out of the mood.

 

“Sorry! I just thought this was like…a high fantasy kind of game?” 

 

“Honestly, I’m with Cady on this one. I thought this was a tech free zone,” Aaron said. 

 

“Of course  _ you _ would object to creativity, ‘Andrew the Human Paladin’,” Regina shot back.

 

“Wh- hey!”

 

“And you’ve barely contributed  _ anything  _ when we talk in-character,” Damian tacked on.

 

“I’m just…! You guys are better at improv than I am!” 

 

Regina and Damian continued the friendly picking on Cady and Aaron for being “buzzkills” and “creatively stifling” for a few minutes before Janis interrupted.

 

“Oh my god, you guys, can we get back to the game.” 

 

Janis seemed to be the only one frustrated at the sudden break from gameplay. Then again, her character was the one that had been interacting with the plot at that point. And Janis seemed  _ really  _ invested in Regina’s storytelling. She had a lot riding on this…...emotionally, that is. Thankfully, the others seemed fine with continuing the narration instead of goofing off more.

 

“Okay...ugh...where the fuck was I…” Regina scanned over her notes. 

 

She hated to admit it, but she wasn’t having a totally horrible time. Some might say she was even having fun. Some may not live to see another day if they suggested to Regina that she was having fun. But it was a fair suggestion. She was laughing and joking with the others, and it wasn’t at the expense of anyone beyond the typical playful ribbing. And Janis seemed really  _ into _ the world Regina had created. Not that it mattered. But it was like, cool.

 

Regina found her place in her notes again and readied herself for the continuation of the adventure.

 

“The voice on the radio fades away, and the radio is back to the soft crackling from when you first picked it up. But- uh oh!- the tremors in the cavern are getting  _ intense.  _ I’m gonna need a perception check from all of you…”

 

———

 

Regina sat up in bed, reclining against her many pillows. She would never in a million years say it out loud, but she had a good time. And when the group was leaving and Cady suggested they get together again some time for another session, Regina didn’t say no. She actually didn’t say anything, but that’s not a no. 

 

Regina felt like she had lost control of her life for months. But that night, weirdly enough, was the most in control she had felt in awhile. She was well out of her comfort zone, yet somehow in her element at the same time. And it involved making a group of people laugh and smile, unlike her typical comfort zone. They had been interested in what she had to say, not because they had to be. They wanted to be.

 

She had been riding a truly wonderful high, but now she was in bed, spiraled back to a low as she stared at the voice message that Aaron had sent her…..or rather, the one that she sent him. She had stared at the play button for what felt like six hours, but may have been closer to five minutes. A shaky thumb drifted over the little triangle.

 

_ “Heyyyyy again, Janis....it’s me again. I know, right? Talk about needy. Ha. I think I finally got something going here. With the thing. Y’know the...thing...don’t make me say it out loud. I stand by what I said earlier, by the way. Fuck you for making me do this…” _

 

God, she sounded tired in the recording. And, well, high. Every word just ran right into the other. Regina had to wonder if Aaron had even been able to process what was being said.

 

_ “...I keep remembering stuff though. From when we were kids? All the stories we would write together. Looking back now they’re probably like...mad dumb. Or maybe not. Maybe we were super gifted and there was like, an Oscar winner in there somewhere…” _

 

Regina was frozen in horror. How was she still talking? How did she still have more to say?

 

_ “...Fuck, we were always fuckin’ together huh? D’you ever wish it was simple like that again? Just you and me. I’d write some shit. You’d draw some shit.” _

 

_ “We were so fucking stupid. I think I got it in my head that I was in love with you. We were basically married anyways. I always felt all warm and fuzzy or whatever around you...oh...fuck…” _

 

Regina’s voice on the recording had started to grow softer, and the words started to slur even more as the Regina of last week started to lose consciousness.

 

_ “I don’t think...anyone else has ever given me that same feeling…” _

 

And then, to conclude the message, barely audible,

 

_ “...Except you.”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shout out to ashtyn (panchito-pistoles on tumblr) for being my main bitch on this chapter i gotta say couldn't have done it with out you


	4. Chapter 4

It was Saturday afternoon when Janis finally bothered waking up. She checked her phone for the time. 1:00 pm. Fuck. As she sat up in bed and stretched her back with a groan, Janis grabbed her phone to check her messages and noticed the texts Cady had sent her last night.

 

> _ WOAH _

> _ the game was super cool Janis!! _

> _ thanks for putting it together for me :) _

 

Oh right. The session.

 

She still couldn’t believe how  _ well _ the game went last night. It honestly didn’t make sense that the whole thing didn’t just fall apart completely. She had put a lot of faith in Regina and putting any amount of faith or trust in Regina was known by all to be a bad, bad decision. Sure, she now hung out with the lot of them, but, to put it lightly, she wouldn’t be their first choice of contact in an emergency. Nor was she the first choice of contact when one needed a ride. Nor was she the first choice of contact for...literally any friend thing ever. No one wanted to hang out with her one on one for any extended periods of time. Janis would feel bad about that...except for the part where she still thinks that on some level, Regina deserves the isolation. 

 

But... Regina had actually put effort into making the session enjoyable for Cady. Janis had trusted Regina with something, and Regina followed through. To be honest, it kinda pissed Janis off. What right did Regina have to actually keep true to her word? Janis had expected the worst, and it annoyed her to no end that the worst didn’t come.

 

Regina had the  _ audacity _ to be a good friend?

 

Janis had managed to push Regina’s message to the back of her mind, but last night’s session brought it right on back to the forefront. What the hell did that “thank you” mean? Had Janis really succeeded in, if only for one night, bringing her best friend back from a time before all of the bullshit?

 

There was one moment, near the beginning, when Janis was worried about whether or not the game would even happen. She had overheard, not all of it, but enough, when Regina had brought Aaron into the kitchen. Janis had heard the anger, just none of the specifics. She was sure then that it was all over. She should have never let Aaron come.

 

But it seemed like Regina had also had at least some modicum of fun, and was maybe interested in running more games. Or well, she didn’t immediately shoot down the idea of running more games. Ugh. Why was she thinking so hard about this? Janis was certain Regina wasn’t thinking about last night as hard as she was.

 

Janis shot a text to Damian and Cady to see if they wanted to hang out. Nothing like spending time with her ACTUAL friends to take her mind off of her NOT friend who she does NOT care about in any way, shape, or form.

 

Right?

 

\-----

 

Regina laid in bed, motionless, trapped under the weight of her own thoughts and the implications of her voicemail confessional. It was overwhelming. She had never been more thankful that a message didn’t go to the right person. And never more thankful that Aaron was one of the nicest guys she knew. In  _ love _ ?  _ Married??? _ What the HELL did that mean? She wasn’t in love with Janis. She couldn’t have been. Did she mean that in...what? In a platonic way? Like when best friends act like an old married couple? She couldn’t have meant...

 

Regina let out a frustrated shriek for the hundredth time that day. She was lucky no one was home.

 

“Wait...” The first actual word Regina had spoken all day as she began to remember the reason why Kylie wasn’t home. She turned her head sharply (too quickly, she groaned in pain as a sharp feeling shot through her neck) to look at the clock on her nightstand.

 

_ 1:00 PM. _

 

She was supposed to pick up Kylie from her sleepover. 

 

Fuck.

 

Regina scrambled to make herself appear presentable to whatever judgemental WASPy suburban mom she would have to make small talk with while she waited for Kylie to finish up whatever she was doing, because of  _ course  _ Kylie would forget to check her phone and allow Regina to wait in the car for her to come out. 

 

“Please God, Kylie have your phone on hand…” Regina mentally pleaded as she got into her car. She quickly sent her sister a text announcing her arrival in the near future (no apology for the lateness, naturally), and sped off, somewhat thankful for the distraction.

 

\----------

 

“Did you like the flowers we sent? I wasn’t sure which ones were your favorite but...oh well all the arrangements on the website seemed so beautiful.”

 

“Oh, yeah, I got the flowers you sent. They were...beautiful.” 

 

“That’s good! That’s...good.”

 

Kylie ended up not having her phone on hand, and that was how Regina found herself waiting for her by the door of her sister’s friend’s stupid McMansion, talking to a woman who she was sure she had never met before but who apparently had met her several times. 

 

“You know, you look fantastic all things considered. How have you been doing since...the...uh...the...” The woman went silent, not even daring to fill in the blank.

 

“The bus?”

 

The woman’s fearful silence signaled approval.

 

“Oh you know, nothing can keep me down long.” Regina stated dryly.

 

“It really seems like you’ve recovered fast. Really...fast. Does your back hurt? Are you sure you wouldn’t like to sit down while you wait for your sister?”

 

“I’m fine.” She wasn’t. Regina had forgotten to take her pill before she raced out the door.

 

“Oh it’s so lucky that you’re still with us. Burying a child-”

 

Regina cut her off. “Is my sister coming?” 

 

“Oh, dear, is your mother alright?”

 

“She’s fine. Could you just- I’m just, like, super busy so if we could- grab Kylie. So I can get her home.”

 

“Should you even be driving in your condition?”

 

“Is my sister coming.” Regina repeated through grit teeth. She knew this would happen. Once again, she found herself about to lose her temper. Once again, the control she had once had over her life was gone. She was an idiot to think that just because she had it for a few hours last night, she had it back permanently. Regina couldn’t go anywhere without being wrangled into awkward small talk full of uncomfortable questions and apologies. Everyone knew her, and everyone knew what had happened. 

 

If the woman was still talking, Regina didn’t notice. Her mind was elsewhere, wishing to be back to last night. Meanwhile, her eyes kept drifting to the long, bottle blonde hair that the woman possessed, and how her fingers kept twirling it nervously. 

 

She also wasn’t paying attention as much as she should have when Kylie had finally surfaced, and they were able to return home. 

 

And really, she wasn’t even thinking when she picked up her phone and texted Janis.

 

_ >Last night was fun. We should do it again sometime.  _

 

\-------

 

Janis had been watching some cooking show with Cady and Damian when she got the text from Regina. 

 

“Woah- hey guys pause it.”

 

“What! We’re about to find out who’s gonna get chopped this round!” Damian and Cady both complained, somehow in a rehearsed unison.

 

“Regina just texted me and I can’t emotionally deal with this and the cooking at the same time.”

 

Damian’s disappointment and annoyance melted away to curiosity and annoyance. 

 

“Ugh, seriously? How is she sending you into emotional turmoil  _ this _ time?”

 

Janis displayed the text for Cady and Damian. Damian put his face in his hands with a groan. Cady got  _ very _ excited.

 

“Really?? She wants to do it again? Forreal? That’s great!” 

 

Damian sunk further into the couch.

 

“Last night was so fun. And you never told me Regina was such a good writer! Well, I guess you...didn’t really have the chance to...or want to...but uh- wow!” 

 

Damian finally spoke up from his position nestled deep within the couch.

 

“Are you going to say yes?”    
  


Cady clearly hadn’t considered that Janis could say “no”. She visibly held her breath in anticipation as Janis mulled over her response.

 

“...I mean...yeah? Probably? Last night  _ was _ fun. I’m not rushing to like...get married or whatever, but...I guess spending more time with Regina wouldn’t totally suck.” Janis had noticed how much Regina had let her walls down over the course of last night. She wasn’t an open book, certainly, but it was more like she was a book that had to be opened with caution due to old and brittle pages, rather than a book guarded by barbed wire and cement walls. 

 

Damian wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure? You’ve been burned by her before. Hard. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to limit how much you saw of her outside of school. If we really want to keep doing games we can find someone else to DM.”

 

Cady seemed to be straining not to frown in disappointment. Ultimately it had to be Janis’s call. 

 

“Damian, I invited her to run the game in the first place. It’s fine.”

 

“You’re still thinking about that voicemail, aren’t you?” 

 

“ _ Damian. _ ”

 

“ _ Janis. _ ”

 

“...Ugh...I just- I think maybe it’s a good sign that she like...tried, y’know? Like she could have phoned it in. I gave her that premade adventure and she barely touched it. I don’t totally trust her yet. I’m not an idiot-“

 

Damian opened his mouth to object but Janis shot him a look.

 

“-at the first sign of trouble I’ll drop her. I promise.”

 

Cady seemed pleased with the decision. Damian didn’t but it was clear he couldn’t change Janis’s mind. They were going to have another session. She opened up her phone again and texted back.

 

_ >sure. ur not worried about us infecting you even more with our nerdiness? _

 

Janis got another text back not even a minute later.

 

_ >Eh. Probably too late for me at this point. Still cooler than all you bitches though. _

 

Janis smirked at that. 

 

> _ when do u think you’d be ready for another sesh _

 

Janis had rushed Regina into learning the rules to Dungeons and Dragons with a premade adventure in a week, and Regina had crafted an entirely different story out of its bones. Janis couldn’t blame her if she wanted to take a few weeks to start planning out something n-

 

> _ Friday. _

 

Janis blinked a few times in surprise at the response.

 

“...Well guys...looks like we’ve got another session this week.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also have a mean girls blog now. catch my dumb ass at butchregina.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

It was Wednesday and Regina’s parents were still gone. Still on that marriage counseling retreat or someshit, she guessed. It was supposedly just a weekend thing but whatever. She didn’t care. Or she wouldn’t care if it weren’t the fact that because her mom wasn’t home, she had to pick Kylie up from school and be surrounded once more by suburban moms. All with the same hairstyle. And voice. And questions. And to add onto that, Kylie had a million different friends’ houses to go to at different times.

 

Holy fuck this shithead had a lot of friends. 

 

No one needed that many friends.

 

There were better things she could be doing with her time than being a 10 year old’s own personal chauffeur. Like work on the session. The first game had gone so well, she couldn’t let the group down on the second one. It would make her look bad. Regina couldn’t have that.

 

But instead of being at home, working on her nerd shit, she was cornered by her car, being asked by an army of moms all the same questions she had heard over and over again for months. This was Hell. It had to be Hell. Maybe she really did die and this was just some fucked up afterlife prank. That was the only explanation. Hell was a gaggle of platinum blonde suburban moms preventing you from going home. 

 

“We should really be getting home.” Regina finally said, breaking away from the group.

 

“Oh, of course! I’m sure you have a lot of homework. I hope high school is going alright for you.” One of them said.

 

“Yeah.” was all Regina could muster in response.

 

“We’ll see you two tomorrow!” A different woman called out as Regina climbed into the driver’s seat and Kylie got in the back.

 

Tomorrow. 

 

And the next day.

 

And surely the day after that.

 

They expected her now. Saw her as one of them. But she wasn’t. She couldn’t be. Or at least, she used to think she wasn’t. Her life used to be exciting. Full of parties and trips into the city. Now she was spending her weekends on a heating pad, writing stories for people that didn’t like her. 

 

But she got to see those people react to the stories in real time, and it was incredible, and she had control of her life. It was so small and so stupid but for a few hours she had control of her life and that made the whole shitty thing worth it. So what if she had to see Aaron again, or feel  _ really _ weird whenever Janis grinned in excitement at some new plot development she threw out. She didn’t feel that same weirdness when she saw Janis at school. Too much other shit going on, she supposed. Too much shame in feeling anything in public.

 

Regina was barely paying attention to the week as it went by. It was all so routine at that point. Friday at 5:00 pm was what she had to look forward to. The only thing that disrupted her whole “going through the motions” thing was when Gretchen approached her at her car on that Friday.

 

“Hey!” Gretchen greeted, with forced confidence. It dropped as soon as she was met with dead silence and a raised eyebrow from Regina. The two hadn’t spoken one on one at all since junior year. And Regina already had a lot on her plate with the session that night. She didn’t feel like thinking about more than that. One train of thought was enough. When Gretchen didn’t continue whatever it is she wanted to say, Regina sighed.

 

“What’s up, Gretchen?” 

 

“Oh uh. Karen and I...we were wondering if maybe you wanted to...hang...out...tonight?” Gretchen’s voice got smaller and smaller with each consecutive word, before finally saying, in what was practically a whisper, “...like old times…?”

 

“Uh. I can’t.”

 

“Oh…” Gretchen turned to walk away.

 

“I’m not like, blowing you off. I do have plans tonight...”

 

Gretchen perked up at that.

 

“...With Cady.”

 

“Really?! What are you guys doing?”

 

Regina searched her mind for any lie she could possibly think of. 

 

“Bye.”

 

Well that wasn’t a fucking lie but whatever. Regina got into her car without another word and drove off.

 

For some reason that Regina couldn’t quite place, talking to Gretchen gave her the same uneasy feeling that being around all those moms gave her. But she didn’t have time to dwell on that, even as she noticed the dejected Gretchen she left behind in the student parking lot. She had a game to run.

 

\-------

 

Aaron was feeling really, really guilty. He had promised himself that he wouldn’t tell  _ anyone _ about what Regina had accidentally sent him.  _ No one _ . Not a single soul. He wouldn’t even dream of it. Even after all that had happened, Regina’s wrath was way scarier than a secret was hard to keep. Telling anyone about Regina’s message would ensure his slow and painful death. Which is why it would be incredibly stupid to tell anyone, anything.

 

Except he totally told Cady everything.

 

It wasn’t on purpose. In fact he distinctly remembers Cady worming all the details out of him after they dropped Janis off at her house. Cady had asked him how he thought the session went and he responded, very calmly,

 

_ “Regina accidentally sent me a voicemail and I think it’s for Janis and I don’t know what it means!” _

 

100% accidental. 

 

_ “Woah woah woah- she did WHAT?” _

 

_ “I mean- what? Huh? Hm? I didn’t say anything about uh- anything.” Aaron turned his head to avoid meeting Cady’s big, pleading eyes.  _

 

_ “Okay well now obviously you have to play it.”  _

 

_ “I really shouldn’t…” _

 

Cady ended up winning that battle of wits. In any case, she promised not tell anyone. But now she was looking...a little too excited about the session. As they pulled up into Regina’s driveway, Aaron turned to Cady.

 

“Okay so...you’re gonna be totally cool about the information I may or may not have accidentally given you, right?”

 

Cady was silent.

 

“... _ Cady _ .”

 

“What? Oh, absolutely.”

 

They were once again in the threshold of Regina’s house, and Cady’s eyes kept glancing back and forth between Janis and Regina. Aaron had no idea what was going on in his girlfriend’s head but he can’t imagine it’s anything good.

 

\-------

 

Oh Cady was very, very excited. At first she couldn’t  _ believe  _ Aaron would tell her something so private about Regina. Sure, there was a time when she would have been thrilled to possess any kind of image shattering info on her. But now she has only the best intentions for such information. The information being, of course, that Regina was  _ obviously  _ in love. Sure, she didn’t exactly  _ say _ it in the message. But she definitely danced dangerously close to it. And she was sure it wasn’t platonic. Typically she was oblivious to this kind of stuff, but  _ boy _ that message wasn’t subtle. It did sort of throw Cady for a loop because, she had to admit, she couldn’t even fathom the possibility that Regina is gay. At least...until she heard what she had to say to Janis. 

 

Cady was almost glad that Janis ended up  _ not _ receiving the message. She was dealing with a lot already and the voicemail she did end up getting was a whole lot less damning. Not to mention how  _ Regina  _ would have reacted if her message went to its intended owner. There was maybe a 99% chance she would have cut off all contact with the group. 

 

Cady didn’t think she could get Regina and Janis together. She didn’t even  _ want _ to do something like that. With their history...it was almost guaranteed that the two could never trust each other enough to be in any kind of romantic relationship together,  _ ever _ . But maybe, at the very least, Cady could help Regina open up more by talking to her about the...very complicated emotions she may be feeling. Regina didn’t really show it when she sat with them at lunch, but Cady knew she had to have listened to the message, and it  _ had _ to be at least a little bit on her mind. 

 

So when Regina approved another session, Cady was very excited. Regina’s own feelings didn’t scare her away, and now Cady had a chance to talk to her outside of school, when Regina may already be in a good mood. After all, she had seemed so happy after the first session.

 

And now Cady was standing in Regina’s house, glancing between Janis and Regina, totally nonchalantly. Except Regina was definitely starting to notice.

 

“Cady, what the fuck are you doing?” Regina sighed, seemingly already exhausted at the thought of willingly inviting these people into her house. Again.

 

“Oh uh- nothing! Let’s get started!” 

 

Regina didn’t seem convinced, but she also didn’t seem like she actually cared. She sat down at the dining room table, and the others joined her.

 

\-------

 

The party had just solved another puzzle and were progressing at a decent pace through the dungeon when Regina took note that they were out of chips. Whatever. She chose not to comment on it, because she, personally, couldn’t care less… and she didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the group. Unfortunately, Janis must have also noticed the same thing.

 

“Hey, we’re out of chips.” Janis commented, clearly suggesting that measures be taken to remedy the predicament. 

 

“Fucking...fine I’ll go get more.” Regina sighed and stood up.

 

“I’m not saying you have to go out and get more-”

 

“Jesus Christ, I’m gonna fucking get more chips just hold on.”

 

Weirdly enough, Cady also stood up.

“I uh...I’ll come with! To get...the chips. In case you need someone?”

 

Regina’s brows furrowed. She shouldn’t assume the worst. Maybe that last part didn’t mean anything. Maybe Cady just needed to stretch her legs. Or she wanted a say in what snacks were bought. Don’t assume the worst.

 

“I can do things on my own, asshole. I’m not bedridden.” Regina responded, assuming the worst.

 

“O-oh no! No, I know! I just thought you might like some company. And it’s pretty late…” Cady now seemed halfway between sitting and standing, a truly awkward position for anyone to be in.

 

Regina groaned and then motioned for Cady to follow her to the front door. As they left, she could have sworn she saw Damian shoot Cady some kind of judgmental look. She couldn’t imagine why.

 

\-------

 

The pair had managed to grab a few party size bags of chips without issue. They were silent the whole time. And now, on the way back to Regina’s house, they were still silent. Cady drummed her fingers on her legs to the rhythm of the song Regina had playing from her car’s stereo. She had to find a way to bring up Regina’s not very platonic voicemail casually and avoid Regina shutting down all further conversation and friendship. Casual. Smooth.

 

“So...how have you been liking the game?”

 

“It doesn’t suck.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeeeahhh…yeah. Yeah, yeah yeah. Hm...Boy uh...so that medication you’re on really makes you say the darndest things…”

 

“What?”

 

Regina was met with silence as Cady pretended she didn’t say anything.

 

“Cady, what are you talking abou-”

 

“ImayormaynothaveheardthevoicemailyouaccidentallysentAaron?”

 

Regina came to a sudden stop that almost sent Cady flying. Thankfully it was 1 am in a residential neighborhood and no other cars were nearby. Cady hesitantly turned to look at Regina, who appeared to have a death grip on the steering wheel, and absolute terror in her eyes.

 

“Cady, I’m fucking  _ driving _ .”

 

“I-I’m sorry I should have- that was dumb I shouldn’t have-” 

 

“What part did you hear?” 

 

“Huh?” 

 

“What part. Did you.  _ Hear. _ ” Regina spat.

 

“...The whole thing.”

 

Regina looked as if she was experiencing every stage of grief at once. Her grip on the wheel loosened as she bent over, elbows on her thighs, burying her face in her hands in shame. 

 

“God fucking dammit…”

 

Cady didn’t know what to do. Her arms were halfway outstretched, debating whether or not it would be a good idea to provide any sort of soothing, physical comfort.

 

“Regina...hey it’s...it’s okay!”

“Shut up.” Regina’s voice sounded constricted.

 

Cady was only silent for about two second before she continued talking.

 

“If you’re worried about Aaron betraying you or...uh...this one was totally on me. I’m really sorry I...I wasn’t thinking I just...Listen, maybe it was a good thing to get these feelings out? On someone who isn’t Janis? It sounds like you have...a  _ lot _ to work through and I-”

 

“Cady what part of  _ shut up _ did you not get?”

 

“I know you’re just lashing out right now because you’re scared.”

 

“ _ CADY. _ ”

 

Regina stayed hunched over for awhile. It was dark in the car, and though Cady could sort of see Regina shaking ever so slightly, she couldn’t tell if she was crying. Regina was so quiet, and Cady wasn’t sure if she had ever actually seen Regina genuinely cry. Finally she lifted her head, and steadily, ever so carefully placed her hands back on the steering wheel.

 

“We should get back.”

 

“Are you okay to drive? You can take a few minutes of you need to-”

 

“Cady, if you say another fucking word to me I’m making you walk back.”

 

The rest of the car ride was silent but for the ambient sounds of indie pop.

 

\-------

 

“Took you guys long enough. Are you okay? Did you die?” Janis called from the table where the group had been discussing the events of the game while Regina and Cady were on their quest.

 

“Uh...yeah. We just had some trouble...deciding on...chips.” Regina responded. Janis raised an eyebrow. She sounded drained from the errand. 

 

“Are you good to keep going? We can finish this later-”

 

“Where were we? You idiots solved my chain puzzle?” Regina dumped the bags onto the table and sat back down in her seat. 

 

Janis glanced over towards Cady. She also seemed...drained. Janis couldn’t imagine why. Despite everything, Cady seemed to get along with Regina the best out of any of the others. Some kind of shared understanding of...something, she guessed. 

 

“Yeah. Yeah we got past that puzzle. Aaron solved it.” Janis looked to Aaron, and it appeared he had noticed the same shared exhaustion between Cady and Regina. He kept glancing between them, brows furrowed.

 

“Okay...cool.” Regina took a deep breath. “You find yourself in a…” She trailed off. 

 

Janis, who had been studying her character sheet, looked at Regina, only to realize that Regina had already been looking at her. Her mouth looked frozen in a slightly open position, perpetually ready to say something. Anything. Why was Regina looking at her like she was...nervous? Scared? Her eyes were wide and twitching ever so slightly. 

 

“Is everything okay, Regina?” Now it was Aaron’s turned to ask. He leaned a little closer to her.

 

Regina broke eye contact with Janis, thank god.

 

“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. Yeah. You find yourself in a room even darker than the last one. It’s hard to gauge whether its a similar size or shape to the previous room because of said darkness. However, from what appears to be the far right corner, you can clearly hear something that sounds like rushing water…”

 

Regina’s voice faded to the back of Janis’s mind as she absently took notes on the description of the room. 

 

If they were gonna keep doing this, she was gonna have to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with Regina. Probably. Unfortunately.

 

God, she hoped it really was nothing. 

 

Whatever.

 

She had a game to focus on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE DELAY ON THIS BAD BOY

**Author's Note:**

> ayyy check my dumbass out on tumblr i post art n shit there. more of an artist than a writer.
> 
> http://soggystyrofoam.tumblr.com/


End file.
